What Aussies are most likely to lose on a night out

HITTING the town on the weekend or kicking up their heels on a public holiday often results in Australians losing their debit or credit cards, a new study has revealed.

Alarming new research by the nation's biggest lender, the Commonwealth Bank, found that in the past 12 months more than 689,000 customers have reported a card as either lost or stolen.

And Australians aged between 31 and 40 are the worst offenders, making up most of the 1890 that go missing everyday.

Some may think downing a few too many glasses of sauvignon blanc or pints of beer may be to blame for wallets and lost pieces of plastic going walkabout, but the most common day to report a card missing is actually on Tuesday.

Losing a credit or debit can be stressful and requires the cardholder taking immediate action.

CBA's executive general manager of digital Pete Steel said cardholders can spend days hunting for their card before they decide to call their financial institution and cancel it.

"The more we use our cards the more likely we are to accidentally misplace them,'' he said.

"Just a couple of years ago we would use cash to pay for public transport, lunches and our daily coffee.

"Now we use our cards for all purchases big and small."

CBA rolled out a lock, block and limit feature on it's smartphone app, allowing customers to swiftly put a temporary lock on a misplaced card while they go on a mad hunt for it.

Figures show over the past year more than 80,000 customers have used this app feature and of those 25 per cent turned off their feature once they were reunited with their card.

Tuesday is the most common day of the week for cardholders to report a card lost or stolen to their financial institution.

The Australian Banking Association's chief executive officer Diane Tate urges customers to contact their bank immediately if they misplace their card.

"This will enable your bank to put a stop on your card immediately so that no one else can use it and get access to your money,'' she said.

"Most banks have a 24-hour telephone number for reporting lost cards - it's a good idea to keep a record of this number handy at all times, just in case."

Customers can put a stop on lost or stolen cards by contacting their financial institution either via their bank’s app or phoning them directly.

She also said many banks will allow customers to put a stop on their card online or use the bank's app to do this at anytime.

"After you've put a stop on your card make sure you check your statements to make sure there's been no unauthorised transactions,'' Ms Tate warned.

Some banks also enable customers to be issued with a new card and use it before they receive the physical card in the post.

Depending on a bank's capability, sometimes they can hand over the new card's details so the customer can upload this information into their digital wallet and be able to immediately make transactions.

Mr Steel said customers sometimes have to wait up to seven business days for a new card to arrive depending on where they live.